Nikola Jokic's triple-double vaults him into the national conversation

DENVER — With his first career triple-double; a 20-point, 13-rebound, 11-assist effort in Denver’s 121-117 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, Nikola Jokic has officially arrived on the national scene.

Sure, Friday night’s stat line is impressive, but it wasn’t even Jokic’s best game this season. That could have come in his 35-point, 12-rebound showing in San Antonio, or his 27-point, 17-rebound, nine-assist performance against Dallas back in December.

Even though Jokic actually came within two rebounds or assists of a triple-double on four separate occasions prior to Denver’s win over Milwaukee Saturday night, those games don’t seem to matter to most.

People care about triple-doubles and Jokic’s game will get the masses talking.

‘Jokic’ was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter past midnight in Denver following his triple-double. His postgame antics where he described how Michael Malone handed a naked Jokic the game ball signed by the entire team was played on SportsCenter. He actually gets ESPN to play Nuggets highlights.

“We just gave him the (game) ball in the locker room,” Malone said. “This will be the first of many triple-doubles.”

Jokic wasn’t supposed to do this.

The No. 41 pick in the 2014 draft would have been a success story if he simply made it to the NBA. Now he’s regarded as one of the best young players in the league.

Yet, after a third-place finish in last season’s Rookie of the Year voting, the Nuggets struggled to unlock this Jokic early on this year. Denver placed Jokic at power forward to start the season, a position he never felt comfortable with. Then, he moved to the bench as Malone tempered expectations on the big man after Jokic finally started to show shades of his rookie season-self.

“You guys got to understand, he’s not going to be the same player he was last year,” Malone said after Jokic scored eight points, grabbed 12 rebounds and struggled defensively in Denver’s mid-November loss to Toronto. “Gallo was out, Wilson Chandler was out. Last two months of the season we played our young guys, we played them 35 minutes a night almost. We’re healthy, we have guys playings, so everybody stop expecting Nikola Jokic to be something he’s not. I think it’s unfair to him. He’s playing well, he’s rebounding, he’s looking for his offense, he’s playmaking for other guys and that’s all we need him to do.”

Slowly but surely, the Nuggets found Jokic and Jokic found himself.

The Nuggets were the league’s 19th-best offense up until Dec. 12. Since Jokic’s first start at center on Dec. 15, Denver has the most efficient offense in the league. With Jokic in the lineup since that date, the Nuggets are 13-9.

“If you really delve into the numbers analytically, you can’t deny his impact on the game,” Malone said. “Ever since the lineup change, the scoring the playmaking, the assists, how much more efficient we’ve become. And he is a central part of that. He’s a guy that we play through in so many different ways.”

The numbers speak for themselves. Here’s Jokic’s offensive impact compared to how other stars influence their respective teams on that end of the floor.

“All you have to do is the eye test. We have looked like a different team without him,” Malone said. “(Without him) we don’t have nearly as much movement. Guys aren’t running as much because you don’t have that guy that is making the pinpoint passes to get guys easy baskets.”

Jokic is a rare two-pronged superstar. He’s someone that makes his teammates exponentially better with his passing, selflessness, playmaking and skill on the court, but also a player, a 21-year-old Serbian, that is equally as admirable off it.

The Nuggets now look to build around Jokic, finding players and pieces that fit alongside the 6-foot-10 Balkan. One of those is already on the roster in Jamal Murray, who’s quietly averaging 15 points and emerging as a playmaker from the point guard position as of late.

But for now, it starts and ends with Jokic. He’s the Nuggets’ rock, their core, and will shoulder the load in Denver’s pursuit of the eighth seed this season.

“He’s kind of the centerpiece of everything that we do,” Malone said.